Pocket.



E. O. FELLROTH.

POCKET. APPLICATION FILED DBO. 1

Patented Feb. 23,1915.

IN V EN TOR. E. u 1%.; 1mm

WITNESSES imam; a. 44.4%

A TTORNE Y ERICK 0'. FELLROT'H, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

POCKET.

Application filed December 1, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERICK O. FELLROTII, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pockets, of which the-following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved closure for pockets in garments, or for hand bags, or the like, which will retain articles securely so that they will not drop out if the pocket or hand bag is inverted, or if the wearer of the garment in which the pocket is used bends over, or moves suddenly in such a manner that said articles would otherwise be displaced from the pocket.

No perfect closure has been heretofore provided, so far as I am aware, for preventing accidental escape of articles contained in pockets, and I will first point out the imperfections of prior proposed closures. It has been proposed to provide, within a pocket, reverse pockets or flexible flaps, eX- tending toward the bottom of the pocket, and tending to catch and retain within the pocket articles tending to slide along the sides of the pocket toward the month thereof. But this arrangement, while afiording some protection, does not constitute an absolutely secure pocket closure, for, while such flaps or reverse pockets do indeed tend to catch and retain articles, they cannot be absolutely depended on to do so, for it is possible for an article to pass the flap or reverse pocket and so escape from the mouth of the main pocket. Especially is this the cast with small, round, heavy objects, such as coin or shot, and more especially when contained in the pocket with other large articles, which, by contact with the flap or reverse pooket, press it out of shape and in some cases invert it and permit the small, round objects to pass the edge of said flap.

Devices which have been provided at the mouths of pockets for preventing the picking of the pocket are not perfectly adapted as pocket closures for preventing the escape of articles therefrom when the garment is inverted. Such devices have been generally constructed with one or two pieces of elastic material, such as spring steel or whalebone, secured directly to one or both of the sides of the main pocket. But such devices, while well adapted to prevent picking of the pocket by apprising the wearer of the at- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Serial No. 803,941.

tempt that is being made, do not insure perfect closure of the pocket, because a .large article in the pocket, falling down when the garment is inverted, will distend and separate the sides of the pocket and permit small articles to pass between said sides and out through its mouth.

Another object of my invention is to provide a closure for pockets which will securely hold therein a pencil or fountain pen having a portion projecting out of the pocket.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 1s a broken front view of a garment equipped with my improved pocket; Fig. 2 1s a broken rear view of the pocket; Figs. 3 and 4- are sectional views on the lines 33 and H of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a detail view of a modification of my invention.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a garment and 2 a pocket therein. Between the vertical edges of the sides 3, 4 of said pocket, at the top, I secure, as shown at 6, the ends of the sides 7, 8 of a pocket closure. The upper edges of the sides of the pocket closure are secured, as shown at 9, to the cloth forming the garment on each side of the pocket. The sides 7, 8 of said pocket closure are of a depth very much less than that of the pocket itself, and the sides 7 and 8 are of the same pieces of cloth as are used for the piping or facing of ordinary pockets, but are not sewed at their lower edges, as heretofore, to the sides of the pockets, so that my improvement necessitates the use of no greater amount of cloth than heretofore. The lower edge of the inner side 7 of the pocket closure is turned up and stitched to said side 7 to form a long narrow receptacle 11 for a thin, narrow, strip 12 of elastic material, preferably steel, said strip being inserted in said receptacle, said end of the receptacle being then closed. A piece of tape 13 is preferable stitched to said side 7 so as to cover the line of stitching used to form said receptacle. Said steel strip is concavo-conveX in form, the concave side being nearest to the body of the wearer, so that said strip conforms approximately to the body of the wearer. The lower portion of the other side 8 of said pocket closure extends lower than the side 7 and the lower edge thereof is faced by a piece of tape 14:. By reason of the concavo-convex form of the spring strip, the lower portion of the side 8 of the pocket closure is drawn very tightly over the lower edge of the side 7 thus completely closing the same against the passage therethrough, should the garment be inverted, of articles contained in the pocket. The extreme lower edge of the side 8 of the pocket closure to some extent underhangs the extreme lower edge of the side 7, and for this reason, and also because the lower edge of the side 8 is drawn so tightly against the spring steel strip, there is no possibility of small articles, such as coin,

falling out of the pocket if the garment isinverted or violently shaken. The sides 8, 4:, of the pocket are formed with plaits 16, 17 which allow said sides to expand to hold large articles in the pocket, but large articles contained in the pocket do not tend to separate the lower edges of the closure and thus permit small articles to escape through said closure, as would be the case if the lower portions of the sides of the pocket closure were secured to the sides of the pocket.

A very considerable advantage arises from making the spring steel strip of concavoconvex form. In the first place, the outer side of the closure is drawn very tightly against the inner side, thus making the closure completely effective. Secondly, this form of spring steel strip permits this improvement to be applied to the pocket without noticeably changing the shape of the garment. Thirdly, since the ends of the strip are curved inwardly, the cloth around said ends does not become unduly worn, and is not liable to be injured when a hot iron is applied to the garment to press the same, as would often be the case with a straight strip.

In using this closure for what are called patch pockets on outing garments that are intended to be washed or cleaned, one end of the receptacle 11 is closed only by a button 18, so that the steel strip can be removed when it is desired to wash the garment.

I am aware that it has been proposed to close a pocket at its mouth by a steel strip and a rubber band attached to its respective sides, but the use of rubber for such a purpose is impractical, because either the rubber must be ripped out if sewed in, or the device injured in cleaning or pressing the garment.

It will be understood that in the claims the word pocket is not limited to a pocket in a garment, but includes also the pocket of a purse, hand bag, or the like.

I claim 1. In combination with a pocket, a closure therefor having flexible sides secured at their outer and upper edges to the respective sidese of the pocket, and a thin, narrow, concave-convex strip of resilient material secured along substantially its whole length to the inner or lower edge of one side of the closure, the inner or lower edge of the other side thereof being on the convex side of said strip and slightly below the same and secured only at its ends to the first-named inner edge. a

2. In combination with a pocket, the sides of which are formed with plaits, a closure therefor having flexible sides secured at their outer and upper edges to the respective sides of the pocket, and a thin, narrow, concavo-convex strip of resilient material secured along substantially its whole length to the inner or lower edge of one side of the closure, the inner or lower edge of the other side thereof being on the convex side of said strip and slightly below the' same and secured only at its ends to the first-named inner edge.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERICK O. FELLROTH. Witnesses F. M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, I). G. 

